Angelenos welcome their new schools superintendent -- with some reservations
Michelle King, left, is introduced as the new superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District on Jan. 11, backed by board member Ref Rodriguez, center, and King's daughter Brittney King.
(Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
We asked Angelenos what they thought of the choice of Michelle King as the new superintendent for Los Angeles Unified, the nation's second largest school district. Readers responded favorably to her deep connection to the district; King, 54, was educated in local schools, has spent her entire career with L.A. Unified starting in 1978 and sent her children to local schools. Others, though, warned she may be so entrenched in the bureaucracy that she will not be able to effect change.
Understanding young people of color dealing with extreme poverty
My opinion of Michelle King is largely positive, and I am happy that she was chosen. Based on the problems LAUSD had attracting viable candidates from outside. For example, I read in the L.A. Times that a candidate with experience in Montgomery County, Md., had withdrawn his name saying that LAUSD was something along the lines of a complete mess. I grew up in Montgomery County, and know that it serves a very affluent student body, whose children overwhelmingly come from stable, two-parent households and who are mostly white.
I doubt that such a candidate could adequately lead LAUSD, whose students are mostly young people of color many of whom are dealing with severe poverty.
Ms. King, as someone who came up in the District, knows our student body well and is, in my opinion, much better able to take over the reins without a "break in" period that would be required by an outsider. While I have not worked directly with or under Ms. King, I believe she has had a good deal of influence on my school, Audubon Middle School, in the Leimert Park area of South Los Angeles. Our student body is approximately 65% African American and 35% Latino, and we have been told we have the highest percentage of students in foster care of any school in our area.
— Joel Parkes, teacher, Audubon Middle School
Guts and courage to take a thankless job
She's a long-term, "up from the ranks" kind of woman who is homegrown. That may be a plus but it might also be a negative as she may not "see the forest for the trees" as opposed to being the "new broom that sweeps best."
LAUSD's bureaucracy is notoriously wasteful and inefficient; not maliciously so, but it grew organically like kudzu. Or Jabba the Hutt. She is going to have to prove to a skeptical public that she can deliver results...
I commend Ms. King for having the guts and the courage to take on aAngelenos welcome their new schools superintendent -- with some reservations - LA Times:
The country's second-biggest school district has a new superintendent. But what does she even do? - LA Times http://lat.ms/1n7YQC8